Pets, such as cats, dogs and ferrets, often enjoy sitting and/or lying on one's couch or chair. When they do this, they often leave hair, dander and/or dirt on the couch or chair after they leave. If the cat is particularly territorial, he/she might urinate on the furniture to mark the area as his/hers. If the cat or dog is sick or healing a wound, they might leave behind other bodily fluids. Over time, this can cause the couch or chair and the room that the couch or chair is in to smell, and if guests come to visit and sit on the couch or in the chair, their clothes will pick-up the hair, dander, dirt, and absorb the other bodily fluids.
To discourage pets from lounging on one's couch, chair or other furniture, or from walking on a counter or table, many types of protection systems have been developed. Unfortunately, many of these protection systems are cumbersome to place on and remove from the furniture to be protected, often need laundering, or cause shock or pain to pets, and are not flexible or reconfigurable and thus unable to protect different types and styles of furniture.